1. New Year’s day falls on January 1 in the Gregorian calendar. In England before 1752 when that calendar was adopted, the first day of the new year was March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, also called Lady Day.
2. The gravity of the earth varies because our globe is not perfectly round. It is lowest in parts of Canada, Keewatin in the west and in northern Quebec, mainly as a result of the huge pressure on the earth’s surface from ice 2 miles thick in the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Ice Age.
3. Sean Connery’s first job was milkman.
4. Joseph Napoleon, elder brother of the Emperor, went into exile in the United States in 1815 after the defeat of his brother and after an unfortunate reign as King of Spain. He first lived in New York City and Philadelphia before settling in Point Breeze, New Jersey. He stayed for 15 years before returning to Europe, where he resided in Florence until his death in 1844.
5. The totem pole at Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, BC, is, at 53 meters (173 feet) still the tallest totem pole in existence.
